Considering nearly 2.7 million people travelled by air since May, the infection rate is low at 0,03 percent, said a senior bureaucrat
About 800 fliers have tested positive for COVID-19 since domestic flights resumed on May 25, a senior government bureaucrat has said.
Speaking at an aviation webinar recently, Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation said a total of 2.7 million passengers have taken to the skies since flights restarted. The infection rate, of 0.03 percent, is thus very low, said Padhee.
She pointed out that all efforts were taken to trace all passengers who would have faced a risk.
The government had reopened the skies for domestic flights, which were suspended just before the national lockdown in March. Later in May, the airlines were allowed to restart service, but only one-third of the normal summer schedule.
This limit was later raised to 45 percent.
While the daily number of travellers catching a flight has continued to increase - from the initial volume of about 20,000 a day to 60,000 now - these are still far from pre-COVID-19 levels. In 2019, he pointed out, the Indian aviation industry flew an average of 3.5 lakh passengers a day.
Consequently, airlines have been operating at about 30 percent of their capacity, and passenger loads remain below the half way mark.
This is what Vistara's Vinod Kannan, its Chief Commercial Officer had recently said about capacity utilisation.
Apart from the fear of getting infected, Industry executives have pointed out that customers have been hesitant to travel because of varied quarantine regulations at states.
Total confirmed cases in India have risen to 7.67 lakh, with a recovery rate of 62.1 percent.